Leafs insider mocks Auston Matthews’ contract extension

All eyes were on the Maple Leafs and their hard work in order to lock down star forward Auston Matthews in Toronto. On Wednesday, Matthews signed a four-year, $53 million extension that ties him to the team that selected him first overall at the 2016 NHL draft through the 2027-28 season. The contract carries an AAV of $13.25 million, which will make Matthews the league’s highest-paid player beginning in 2024-25, surpassing Colorado Avalanche top forward Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 AAV.

Fans were quick to comment the new deal on social media, and of course, while some loved the idea that Matthews would stay put in the near future, others couldn’t help but criticize the extension.

And it appears to be the case for Maple Leafs insider James Mirtle of The Athletic, who is a huge supporter of the team and attends all games and press conferences.

Mirtle appeared to mock the Maple Leafs’ agreement with Matthews when he retweeted an article from the Beaverton that made fun of the extension, adding the caption: “Best analysis yet…” The headline of the Beaverton’s piece is: “The Leafs re-signing their best player is bad for them actually,” says brilliant hockey sage

In the article, fans can read:

“The Leafs and franchise centre Auston Matthews have agreed to a 4 year, 53 million dollar contract extension in a move that numerous experts on twitter and reddit believe has doomed the team’s chance of any future success.”

It adds: “These powerful hockey minds appear convinced that Matthews extension means there will be no money left over to add depth, pointing out all the teams that have recently won a Cup did so without top end talent but exclusively heart and soul character guys making 4 mil a season.”

Now, I know the Beaverton is build to make fun of news and usually makes it so completely stupid to read through with all that’s left is to laugh about it.

However, here, it sounds like several fans could agree with the funny analysis.

And it may include Mirtle…

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